Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Listen, Love, Repeat by Karen Ehman

Our culture is self-obsessed – in our schedules, relationships, and especially online. (Can you say selfie?) But in this near-narcissism, people are less content than in decades past. Why? Because we forgot the joy that comes from putting others first. Doing so requires us to live alert, listening for “heart drops,” hints from those in our lives who need a helping hand or a generous dose of encouragement. Living alert lifts our own spirits, showing us that blessing others blesses us even more.
Listen, Love, Repeat offers biblical teaching and suggests doable actions that are simple, heart-tugging, sentimental, even sneaky and hilarious.

I recently discovered an online Bible study hosted by the website Proverbs31 Ministries. I've been looking for a Bible study for a while now. My in-laws used to host a study once a weekend and we would Facetime in and listen and join in the discussion. My father-in-law is an amazing Bible study leader and would always leave me feeling inspired and closer to God. They ending up stopping the Bible study in 2015 so I've been looking for one. One of my absolute favorite studies that we did was when we all read a book together and then discussed the chapters together. Similar to a book club Bible study. The book we read was Twelve Extraordinary Women and I enjoyed it so much. So when I found out that this online Bible study reads books and then discuses them together I really wanted to join.

The book the group was going to read for April (and it looks like the study goes through May) is Listen, Love, Repeat. I'm still a little confused how the study works. I saw that there are live discussions going on certain days on Facebook. I don't really like that, I'd rather have a discussion board like on goodreads so I just have to get used to the different format. Looks like during the month there are videos to watch to listen and learn from also.

This particular book was really excellent. The writing style is as if you are just sitting around speaking to a friend. I read a chapter a night so I could take my time and really read and learn from the chapter. What I really took away from this book was a think called "heart drops". This is when we really listen to others and what they are saying to us. Little conversations with our family/friends/people in our life when they share a little something and we set it aside in our memory for later. It's remembering when someone's dad passed away or remembering their favorite drink and doing something with that information later. I have tried to already practice this in my life . I hope that I hear the heart drops of people in my life and am able to remember those drops for later.

There was also a section in this book about remembering the people we deal with everyday. The person who changes our oil in our cars, or the mailman, the doctor, the dentist. Giving them a little something. This can be hard in some situations, for example, I never see my mailman. We have a community box down the street so I never even know who it is. The book did make me think about the next time I go to the dentist to give my hygienist something. I've been seeing her for like 8 years and never thought to bring her a little something.

One thing I couldn't tell with this book was whether or not the site Proverbs 31 was squeezing this book in to make some money? I think the author is one of the people behind the website so I wasn't sure if the book was picked for the bookclub pick because of this. It was a good book but I don't want to only read books that are by authors who run the site. So I look forward to check out what the next book pick is. For those looking for some inspiration in their lives, pick up this book. You won't regret it. Love God, Love Others, Love Yourself.“Sometimes the best strategy is to keep your mouth shut and your hands open.” (181) And, “The only way to go about loving the difficult is to expect nothing in return.” (182)Anyone else studied through Proverbs 31 Ministries? What do you think about it?